1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aseptically packaged, liquid, shelf-stable non-dairy coffee whitener, that is substantially free of reducing sugar, and to a process for preparing the same. The product is shelf-stable at room temperature for up to several months.
2. Background
For many years there has been an interest in the production of shelf-stable dairy products. Fluid dairy products can be preserved for short periods of time by refrigeration, but nonetheless deteriorate fairly rapidly due to microbiological activity. Pasteurization slows down such deterioration somewhat but does not prevent it.
While refrigerated dairy products have the advantage of fresh taste, several disadvantages exist. In addition to the inconvenience to the consumer of having to obtain fresh dairy products on a frequent basis, fresh dairy products incur costs to the distributor which translate into an increased price for the consumer; for example, the products must be distributed and marketed under cooled conditions, and dairy products which have sat on the shelf for more than a few days become unfit for consumption and must be returned to the distributor. Of particular interest, therefore, has been a cream product having a long shelf life, inasmuch as cream is a "Sunday product" which is typically used only on an infrequent basis.
In recent years, several systems have been developed to provide commercially feasible packaging of dairy-type products intended for long term storage without refrigeration. One such development concerns the use of powdered non-dairy coffee whiteners or "creamers". These powdered coffee whiteners are typically comprised of vegetable or animal fat, carbohydrate, protein, emulsifiers, and stabilizing and buffering salts. Typically, such powdered whiteners comprise 15% to 55% by weight of fat, 42.9% to 80.6% by weight of carbohydrate, 1.5% to 5.5% by weight protein, 0.5% to 1.0% by weight of an emulsifier, 0% to 1.3% by weight of a stabilizer, 0.8% to 2.5% by weight of a stabilizing salt, and 0% to 3.0% of color-flavor. While these powdered coffee whiteners have the distinct advantage of having an almost indefinite shelf-life, they also have distinct disadvantages, one of which is that they do not cool coffee or other hot beverages to which they are added to any significant degree. Also, because they are in powdered rather than liquid form, they do not adequately simulate real dairy cream.
To correct for these disadvantages, fluid non-dairy creamers have been developed. These creamers typically have the same ingredients as the powdered whiteners discussed above, except that they are in a liquid emulsion which more closely simulates a liquid cream product. However, such liquid creamers have a markedly reduced shelf-life as compared to the powdered creamers; namely, off-flavors and off-colors are noticed as soon as nine days after packaging, probably attributable to the browning reaction.
A further significant development in the provision of shelf-stable dairy products comprises aseptic packaging systems which have been developed to provide commercially feasible packaging of dairy products intended for a long term storage without refrigeration. These systems make use of ultra-high temperature (UHT) treatment to sterilize the liquid dairy product, i.e., milk, prior to packaging it. UHT treatment produces a product that is free of spoilage organisms by heating the fluid dairy product to a temperature that is high enough to kill spore-forming organisms, but for a sufficiently short period of time so as to minimize the physical and chemical changes in the product itself. Common process parameters for UHT treatment are a temperature in the range of 140.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. for a time of from 2 seconds to 7 seconds. By utilizing the UHT treatment in conjunction with an aseptic filling system, fluid products can be produced that remain fresh at ambient temperature for extended periods. The techniques and equipment that are required for UHT processing and for aseptic filling are well known in the art. Although such ultra-high temperature treated products tend to have a long shelf-life, undesirable changes in the taste and/or color of the product may be noted as a result of reactions that occur between the constituents of the dairy products at the high temperatures at which the UHT treatment is performed.
There appears to us to be a need for a packaged, shelf-stable, liquid non-dairy coffee whitener which is shelf-stable for long periods of time at room temperature and which is free of undesirable off-flavors and/or off-colors even after storage at room temperature for many weeks or months.